From time immemorial, Microsoft Office has been the format of choice from students to CEOs. This has proven to be a major obstacle in the adoption of Google Drive but now it seems Google have simply thought, ‘if you can’t beat them…join them’.

If you are a Gmail user, you may have already noticed a cool new feature that allows you to convert and edit files directly from your Gmail account.

Google introduced the feature in order to offer users ‘the additional benefits of a single document to keep track of and access from anywhere (even offline!)’

When you next receive a Word, Excel or Powerpoint document, try clicking the new ‘edit’ option on an Office file attachment. The file will be automatically converted into the corresponding Google file and subsequently saved onto Google Drive. Gmail users will then be allowed to edit and save the document at will.

To complement this update, Google have also increased the number of Office formats that can be converted into Google docs. Presentation files (pps, ppx), macro enabled files, and template files are among the new Office documents that you can now view and edit online.

If conversion into Google Drive is impossible, there is now a chrome extension that allows you to edit the file in its original format. Simples.